America. And this last hour on the senate floor. I ask that the United States senate observe a moment of silence to honor the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. Today, newtown starts the first of 26 funerals. Two students will be laid to rest this afternoon. First is jack pinto. A new york giants fan. Smart kid. Number 8, victor cruz, on sunday the giants star cruz wore jacks name on the cleats. Also being laid to rest today, 6yearold noah pozner calling his twin sister his best friend. She was in another classroom and she survived. Nbcs Michelle Franzen is outside noahs funeral not far from sandy hook elementary. Michelle, what is the mood throughout . Reporter well, toure, just a short time ago within the last hour, the Funeral Services for noah pozner finished here after a very emotional sermon and services that were told that occurred inside. Family and friends and people who didnt even know little noah showing up here to show support for the family. A local rabbi who also attended the services spoke after those Funeral Services. He said and described noah as a pure and innocent child who brought joy to his family and to his community. And he also described how noahs mom found the strength to also speak inside those Services Today describing her son as her little man. Of course, noahs 6 years old. As you mentioned, his classmate jack pinto, the service is getting under way. But noah pozner, his uncle described him in these past few days as smart as a whip but gentle boy with a rambunctious streak. He, of course, leaves behind his sister, a twin who was in a separate classroom on that day and made it out of there and an 8yearold sister sophia. The family described all three as inseparable and these are the first of many funerals that well see throughout this week. Those 20 students, those bright lights, the boys and the girls whose lives were taken years beyond what they should have been and now that they have returned with their family, their families as well as the communities are laying them to rest. Toure. Michelle franzen, thank you so much. Details of exactly what happened have changed a lot since friday when we were last on the air here and now learning more about the horror and the heroism at the school. Nbc news justice correspondent Pete Williams is following the investigation since the beginning. Pete, whens the latest . Reporter well, the latest is, you know, a whole different array of lots of Different Things that Law Enforcement is doing but in terms of what you said, yes, i think we have a very clear or pretty clear idea of how things unfolded that on friday morning at sometime Law Enforcement doesnt know adam lanza shot and killed his mother, shot her several times as she was in bed. Damaged the computer, several times. Took the hard drive out and damaged that. There was hope that they could recover data from it but so far they havent been able to. Doesnt mean they wont but the discovery of this computer raised hopes of a fairly quick source of information about maybe his plans, what he had been saying, whether he was communicating with anyone. Now if theres anything to be gained from that at all, it is going to take a longer time. Then he drove to the school with three guns he his legally purchased in the past few years and what Authorities Say were hundreds of rounds of ammunition. And that he stopped the shooting in the school only when he saw and heard the Police Coming for him by shooting himself in the head with a handgun. So many rounds that he took in there that they say theres no way to know how long that the carnage would have continued. As for the as for adam lanza himself, we know that he struggled with a mild form of autism and another disorder thats unusual, whether it had any role in this, of course, theres no way to know but he had difficulty according to a former teacher and friends of his mother, difficulty feeling pain. Either physical or emotional pain. They worried about him hurting himself and not being aware of it. There was never a sense that this would cause him to be a danger to others, only that they had to watch him more carefully because he might hurt himself but these are just little bits of insight as the days go on that we get in to this obviously complicated young man. All right. Nbcs Pete Williams, thank you for that. President obama is leading not only connecticut but the nation in mourning. He spoke at the newtown vigil last night as both a president and a father. We cant tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change. Theres only one thing we can be sure of. Thats the love that we have for our children, for our families, for each other. God has called them all home. For those of us who remain, let us find the strength to carry on and make our country worthy of their memory. We are joined by pastor rocky veech of Connections Church in newtown, connecticut, and pastor joey newton of the newtown bible church. Pastor rocky, you were also a pastor in denver when columbine happened in 1999. What can you tell us about how a Community Starts to heal from Something Like this . I think it starts to heal right away with the funerals like here today. And Community Starts to come together. I noticed living in columbine, that was the beginning. Those were the beginning signs of the healing that did take weeks after that. You know, this i guess is to both of you. We speend a lot of time in the media watching polls and talking about studies about religion and whether its on the rise or the decline in this country and it all seems like sort of silly calculus after tragedies like this seeing that faith plays a huge role in our daily lives. What do you do as you try to ahempbt communities devastated by events like this through their faith and then also what do you do when people in those communities might be experiencing a crisis of faith because of this . Well, obviously, im a pastor so were looking at it like president obama said last night, from the unseen realm first. From the spirit realm first, really, so were trying to help people just get in touch with god. And so were doing a lot of praying with our group of people and just being available for people and trying to help them get in touch with him through prayer. And pastor joey, one of the things that i have been thinking about is, i dont know a person who hasnt been deeply emotionally impacted by this story, whether they had a direct connection to newtown and to this tragedy other than being fellow members of the human species. A eni feel like theres some guilt that comes along with feeling that deep sense of grief, admitting youre having a hard time dealing with it and then going home to a happy and healthy family. You know, how do you counsel people who are grieving even though they dont have a direct connection to the tragedy and make them feel like its okay to feel that sense of grief and loss, as well . Yeah, thats a good question. I mean, first of all, its understanding who god is, that god gives life and he takes life away. We cant give all of the answers for why he takes one and why he leaves another. And those really arent for us to answer but to look to the character of god, to trust him and be thankful if our children were spared in this moment and if somebodys children be taken, then we point them to a god that revealed the character in the death and resurrection of the jesus christ and point them there. Pastor joey, what can the millions of americans who are thinking about newtown right now, what can they what can we do for the people in newtown right now . Say that one more time. I didnt catch the question. What can the millions of people in america who are thinking about newtown and grieving along with them, what can we all do for the people of newtown right now . Yeah, well, from what i understand theres an outpouring of love of people wanting to come alongside in any way they can. As a christian, theres likeminded churches coming alongside by praying and we know that god is sovereign and involved in every detail of the events and we take great encouragement of prayers of christians around the nation wanting to see this be used as it says in romans 8 28 for good for those who trust god and know him. So the good is that we can look past the death and i think so many people get stuck on the death which is tragic, which is terrible, which needs to be acknowledged and grieve and weep with those that weep as the bible tells us in romans chapter 12. We need to do that and not stay there. We need to look at something bigger going on and that is what god is revealing about himself in this and what hes revealing, one, is that there is the reality of sin, there is the reality of death that comes through that sin. Not just dying in old age. But death through wicked hearts who do wicked people who do wicked things and what we have is an answer and a hope thats eternal and a hope thats real in what god did in the person of jesus christ by took the punishment for sin and defeated death by rising from the grave three days later and an eternal hope, a real hope and that is what we would rather be the greater picture here than just these children whose lives were tragically taken. Well said. All right. Pastor rocky and pastor joey, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Well be back with more of our coverage on this special edition right after this. They responded as we all hope we might respond in such terrifying circumstances. With courage and with love. Giving their lives to protect the children in their care. Out of unspeakable Horror Stories of bravery, love and courage in a word heroism. Over the weekend, we have begun to learn more about the heroes of sandy hook from the teachers to the First Responders. She was found protecting her kids doing instinctively what she knew to do. Protecting her children. Huddling them in the closet and trying to shield them from the spray of the bullets. The First Responders that got to that scene with the active shooter team entered that school and saved many human lives. I can tell you it broke our hearts when we couldnt save them all. If they started to cry, i would take their face and say it will be okay. Show me smile. And one of my students was, you know, would say things like i know cakarate. Ill lead the way out. So obviously, i said, well, okay, we need to just stay here right now. We need to be calm and still and quiet. Just wanted my kids and me to live. Thats all. Im not a hero. So what makes a person step up in the face of danger . Joining us now is clinical psychologist robin goodman. Dr. Goodman, we are constantly reminded in these horrific tragedies that as evil and awful and unimaginable as humanity is capable of being, there are far more heroes among us than we even know at any given time. What makes a person a hero . I know its amazing that we can be a force for good in spite of the forces sometimes that seem to evil. One thing is, people its not about risk taking in that way. We think people are reckless. Its risk taking in terms of i risk something for the greater good and they dont see it as heroic but taking responsibility for being able to make a difference, for doing something positive. And especially that they have an ability to make that change and affect have a different kind of an outcome. I kind of believe that everybody would be a hero given the right circumstances. So lets talk about what makes somebody step up and become a hero. Is it a certain person who they love and care about enough is in danger or sense of justice challenged so they have to set things sflagt is it situational or just who you are . It can be a variety of things. Theres something in you that also responds to a need and that may be a need in a group, it may be the need of an individual on the street or the classroom or a moral need or an injustice somewhere but somewhere you see that you have the ability to step up and take a stand and not be afraid of the negative consequences. I think what we have at times is those bystanders that hold back afraid of what will happen. Here we have people aissaying i need to do something because im not concerned about the negative consequence. I am so concerned about the positive consequence. That makes people feel good and do it more. To that point, does being a good and moral and thoughtful person in normal life core late with something a hero or two Different Things to be a thoughtful person versus the pressure is on and an instant to react, stepping up to the plate . I think theres altruism, compassion and those things can happen to foster that. But theres some kind of research out there lately thats starting to think that you can actually teach and help people develop this. By volunteering, by understanding the affect that they could have in the greater good and the every day heroic kind of things not to be minimized because they can set the stage for being the type of person that understands the power that you have to do it in those much more difficult situations because, in fact, you may see them as the same thing. That you are able to do something positive in a negative circumstance. You know, i mean, a lot of these stories coming out of connecticut are genuinely moving accounts of heroism and we have seen the same thing in other tragedies before. We have seen the same thing in sort of less dramatic circumstances and seems theres occasions when somebody whos instinct is to be the hero, that could complicate a situation like this. That could actually maybe backfire in a way and where somebody whose instinct to sit back and not be the hero and more passive, maybe circumstances where thats helpful. You know, heroism is not necessarily tied to wanting the recognition. In fact, its sometimes the opposite. You can hear from these people in newtown and anywhere else that we have talked about these heroic kind of quote unquote heroes. I didnt think of being a hero. In fact, those are the people who are doing it just because its the right thing. But isnt there a situation maybe im not talking about this in particular. We dont know all the details of this but in general there are situations where standing back is the smarter thing. Right. Thats another thing that they sometimes have equated with this is the people that are able to assess situations, that have a sensitivity for a group rather than stereotyping or rather than picking up on just one particular cue, you find that theyre looking at the 0 tallty of something and they have an understanding of what could happen. And then they can do something that can make it kind of a result in a positive instead of a negative way. Okay. Dr. Robin goodman, thank you so much. Sure, my pleasure. A special edition of the cyc cycle continues straight ahead. Stamps. Com is the best. I dont have to leave my desk and get up and go to the post office anymore. [ male announcer ] with stamps. Com you can print real u. S. Postage for all your letters and packages. I have exactly the amount of postage i need, the instant i need it. Can you print only stamps . No. First class. Priority mail. Certified. International. And the mail man picks it up. I dont leave the shop anymore. [ male announcer ] get a 4 week trial plus 100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. Go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again. We have all grown up with the kid in the neighborhood or the school who just seems a little bit off, often thought of as odd rather than a threat. You cross the street seeing him coming or head in a different direction or ignore them. Are these the people to walk toward and not affray from . After a tragedy like sandy hook or columbine or aurora, we hear people say, i saw the dangers. Can we spot this before it happens . Back with us is dr. Joshua weiner. How are you, doctor . Fine, thanks. So we are talking about warning signs here. What are the commonalities that you notice in people who have done these sort of thing to start to build a thought process around what are these warning signs . Well, you know, i think the one thing that people need to be aware of is actually as a psychiatrisig psychiatri psychiatrist, it is so hard to predict when somebody will be violent, suicide or to somebody else. I think its almost unreasonable to try to pigeonhole the specific type of person to commit these things. With that said, however, we need to look out for people with a track record of violence, people who are doing things like talking to others about the fact that theyre fan that sizing of hurting people, stockpiling weapons, posting things on the facebook. These are obvious things but its really hard to identify whos going to be just that weird person whos not really a danger, they might not be functioning well in society but theyre not going to go out and hurt themselves or others versus the person whos going to do such a horrific act. But it seems that many people mentioned this and an over preponderance of the loner, the antisocial person and separating themselves from society, often early 20s, often white, often male. Right. And its hard to say lets take these warning signs and do something about it because a lot of times they never let anybody get close enough to know theres something wrong going on. I know. And you know, you do you do see those trends so as you mentioned there are some specific characteristics that are common with a lot of people. But the thing is, were talking about millions of kids out there who are like this. So, how do you find that needle in the haystack . How do you know which one of the kids who shares the traits is the one to go on to do these things . Thats why to me what i think is really important to focus on right now as a country is preventive measures. What can we do . And for me, i think the issue really starts with destigmatizing Mental Illness and the best place to start is in the School System and from a very early age schools should be teaching kids about social and emotional development. They need to be teaching kids about how to interact with people that are different, how to be accepting, how to deal with conflict. Basically, how to get along in the world because we know that these are skills that actually can be taught and these are skills that actually end up corelating with success in life than the iq. If you have a good what we call emotion al quotient youre more likely to have a happy marriage and overall find yourself sat fied in life and things to b